20 Most Anticipated Books to Add to Your Spring 2019 TBR

While last year was an amazing year for books, 2019 promises to be even better. Be prepared for all the incredible reads you’ll want to add to your TBR with this list! We picked some of our favorite titles that are releasing this month through the end of April.

Whether you’re a fan of historical fiction, psychological thrillers, an inspiring story of standing up for what’s right…our team has a selection for you! Working in the publishing industry allows us the perk of being surrounded by great books all the time, so we’ll totally understand if you have a hard time picking which one to dig into first!

We hope you enjoy this list, and we’ll share even more of our most anticipated reads that are publishing later in the year! Let us know which book(s) you are most excited to read by tagging us on social! #GetLit

The Light Over London

As both a history buff and a romance reader, I can personally attest to how The Light Over London checks ALL the right boxes: Brave ladies bucking convention to serve as badass Gunner Girls in World War II; a noble quest to reunite an unfinished diary with its remarkable owner; and a satisfying love story (or two?!). The dual narratives—one that follows an antiques dealer in training, Cara, in the present, and another that revolves around a 19-year-old Gunner Girl, Louise, in the 1940s—are equally compelling and will keep you turning the pages long into the night. Why did Louise abandon her diary? What ever happened between her and her RAF sweetheart, Paul? And will learning the answer to these questions change Cara’s own life? You’re going to want to find out.

Release Date: January 8, 2019 (Available now)

Slayer

I am a big fan of Buffy—like, the kind of fan who thinks back on the last minutes of episodes such as “Band Candy,” and still laughs. So, when I found out there was going to be a book, sanctioned by the “Buffy” people, in the Buffyverse, I was going to read it. No-brainer. But as I started reading, I realized that you don’t have to be a Buffy fan to love this book. It’s awesome: there’s a kick-butt protagonist, training to be a Watcher, who thinks she’s second-string to her much more outwardly kick-butt twin, until she gets the powers of the Slayer. She has no idea what to do with these powers, and she has no one to confide in since no one actually wants her to have these powers—Slayers cause nothing but trouble. Well, they’re not wrong. But the trouble in Slayer is of the most fun variety. And it’s so empowering that you will want to take a boxing class after reading it!

Release Date: January 8, 2019 (Available now)

Looker

Do you love those books where the protagonists keep making bad choices and you’re cringing while reading, yet anticipating how they can even make more of a train wreck of their lives? Well, then look no further (Insert smiley face crying with laughter emoji). Looker is a debut novel about a woman who becomes maniacally OBSESSED with the famous actress and her perfectly adorable family who lives on her same street in brownstone Brooklyn. What was once a harmless preoccupation with the actress turns into toxic, all-consuming envy after an encounter goes awry at the annual block party. You won’t be able to look away from this one. (Yes, I went there!)

Release Date: January 8, 2019 (Available now)

You Know You Want This

The book I’m most looking forward to seeing published You Know You Want This by Kristen Roupenian. The fantastic and cutting author of “Cat Person,” the short story in the New Yorker that caught Twitter by STORM last year, is back with an incredible selection of short stories. Focusing on the horrible things that are done to women and the horrible things that women do, these stories are creepy, unsettling, and absolutely riveting. I finished this book last fall and I have been shouting about it ever since. This should definitely be on your 2019 reading list!

Release Date: January 15, 2019 (Available now)

The Falconer

This debut novel truly sparkles. It evokes 90s New York City with palpable nostalgia, and, in Lucy, Czapnik has created the adolescent feminist protagonist we need. I loved every page of this novel. This book is not a rebuttal to The Catcher in the Rye, but a natural evolution of the novels that represent society. In it, the author has captured coming of age better than anything I’ve read in recent memory.

Release Date: January 29, 2019 (Available now)

The Winter Sister

I CANNOT wait for everyone to read The Winter Sister by Megan Collins, one of my favorite debut novels of the spring (and probably of the year too). It’s a chilling, atmospheric suspense read that follows Sylvie as she searches for what really happened to her sister, Persephone, the night she never came home. Sixteen years after her sister’s murder, Sylvie is back in her hometown, and she won’t rest until she uncovers the secrets that have overshadowed her family for so long. This is a stay-up-all-night-because-you-have-to-know-what-happens kind of novel, and it’s incredibly perceptive as well—the exploration of the relationships between Sylvie, her mother, and her sister when she was alive will haunt you. AND the book has a Megan Miranda (author of All the Missing Girls), and if she’s a fan, you should be too (obviously).

Release Date: February 5, 2019 (Available now)

The Night Olivia Fell

by Christina McDonald

Susan K’s Pick:

The Night Olivia Fell is a twisty thriller at the top of my spring TBR and should be on yours too. After Olivia Knight is found brain dead and pregnant, her mother will stop at nothing to find the truth. Was it really an accident? Debut author Christina McDonald has beautifully crafted a gut-wrenching, action-packed domestic suspense novel filled with salacious secrets and hidden relationships. It’ll be hard to put down!

Release Date: February 5, 2019 (Available now)

On the Come Up

Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give was one of my favorite reads last year. It topped many ‘Best of’ lists and was adapted into an incredibly heart-wrenching movie! On the Come Up is the highly anticipated sophomore novel from this talented writer.

The story features another badass young woman, sixteen-year-old Bri, who wants to become one of the greatest rappers of all time. Her father, who died before his big break, was an underground hip-hop legend and she aspires to follow in his footsteps. Bri channels her emotions into her first song, which goes viral. She soon finds herself at the center of a media maelstrom, but the attention she is getting isn’t what she intended to happen.

Release Date: February 5, 2019 (Available now)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf

The cover of Marlon James’s new novel, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, is so striking I can’t help but already love it. In the first of this trilogy, which has been referred to as the African Game of Thrones, a hunter named Tracker joins a group of misfits to search for a boy who mysteriously disappeared three years earlier. Tracker, who normally works alone, follows the boy’s scent from city to ancient city and into unknown worlds with this band of unusual characters. Instead of finding answers, Tracker stumbles upon more questions and mysteries; it’s no wonder they need three novels to tell this story!

Release Date: February 5, 2019 (Available now)

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls

Reading up on the most buzz-worthy debuts of the year is one of my favorite things to do as a reader and publishing professional. Described as a dazzling mix of The Mothers and An American Marriage, Anissa Gray’s The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls immediately caught my eye. The Butler family has always been revered and admired in their community, but when the matriarch and eldest of three sisters is arrested, her sisters and the community are in shock. As she awaits trial, her two younger sisters are tasked with caring for the teenage daughters she left behind. This is sure to be one of the most heartfelt and heartbreaking reads of the year.

Release Date: February 19, 2019 (Available now)

Vacuum in the Dark

I loved Jen Beagin’s debut novel Pretend I’m Dead about the tragically comedic life of Mona, an emotionally adrift cleaning lady in her mid-twenties who moves to Taos, New Mexico, after a devastating relationship with drug addict Mr. Disgusting. Vacuum in the Dark (wins the most hilarious cover ever award) fills us in on what Mona is up to now. She’s still cleaning houses for the most eccentric people ever and still making bad relationship choices, this time with a guy she calls Dark, who happens to be married to one of her clients. Mona attempts to unravel what occurred in her past that keeps her on this path of self-destructive choices. You don’t have to have read Pretend I’m Dead to read Vacuum in the Dark, but you should. They are both laugh-out-loud funny!

Release Date: February 26, 2019 (Available now)

Daisy Jones & The Six

The greatly beloved author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is back with a new novel! About the whirlwind rise and fall of a fictional 1970s rock band and their beautiful, enigmatic lead singer, Daisy Jones & The Six is many things: a love story, a story of family, and a love letter to rock ’n’ roll. What’s really cool about this novel is that it’s written as an oral history (think MTV’s “Behind the Music” docuseries). Don’t believe us? Reese Witherspoon loves this book too, and she’s already at work adapting it for an Amazon TV series!

Release Date: March 5, 2019 (Available now)

Queenie

I know you say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but you know Queenie is going to be a great read as soon as you see those regal crown of box braids on the cover. People are calling it Bridget Jones’sDiary meets Americanah—and how can you go wrong with that mash-up? Queenie is the story of a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London and struggling with her ability to navigate between her two cultures. After a bad breakup with her white boyfriend Queenie starts looking for love in all the wrong places and spends too much time on losers who aren’t worth her time or energy.

Release Date: March 19, 2019 (Available now)

Internment

The plot of this book is literally the stuff of my nightmares, but ones that are disturbingly realistic and send chills down my spine as a Muslim American...

This story is set in the near future in the United States. Seventeen-year-old Layla Amin faces a terrifying reality. Her family is forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens. While her friends and boyfriend are on the outside, they can’t do anything to help. Layla and her newly made friends in the camp band together to fight for their freedom and attempt to lead a revolt against the camp’s director and guards.

The Astral Traveler's Daughter

I can’t wait for the follow-up to School for Psychics by K. C. Archer, a.k.a. the series hailed as “Harry Potter with a cast of millennials” (Kirkus Reviews)! Rather than cloaks and wands, this school—secret government facility Whitfield Institute, to be exact—teaches students telepathy, telekinesis, and investigative tactics so that they can become psychic agents protecting the U.S. Book 1 followed Teddy, our ne’er-do-well heroin, as she discovers the truth of her abilities, and a colorful cast of fellow students as they try (and often fail) to master these secret talents. I’m hoping Book 2 will find Teddy putting her skills to the test!

Release Date: April 2, 2019

Stay Up with Hugo Best

June Bloom is the classic trying-to-make-it-in-NYC-twentysomething. She loves comedy, and grew up harboring a crush on beloved TV/humor icon Hugo Best (now in his sixties, and a well-known womanizer). So when she gets a job as writer’s assistant on his late-night television show Stay Up with Hugo Best, June feels like her dreams are coming true. But her tenure is short-lived when Hugo unexpectedly retires (or is forced to retire?)—sending his whole staff into unemployment. After Hugo’s farewell party, June returns to an old dive bar haunt for an open-mic night, prepared to accept the anonymous comedian life which she now has to return to. What she isn’t ready for is Hugo showing up at the same bar, and very quickly inviting her to stay with him at his mansion in Greenwich for the weekend. “No funny business,” he insists.

And what could go wrong? June is a Strong Woman, twenty-nine years old, and can handle her shit (even the remnants of her crush on this charming older man). She accepts, not knowing exactly what’s going to happen, but with some very educated guesses. So begins a bizarre weekend of swimming, stand-up, and the classic older man-younger woman dynamic as you’ve never seen it before.

I read this book in one night because I just couldn’t stop. This is verbal sparring at its finest (so wry I want to cry!), with some very real coming-of-age vibes that filled me with glee, and left me a bit unsettled and introspective about my own life choices… Stay Up with Hugo Best is for any human who is trying to navigate their 20s, is familiar with New York show biz, or honestly just loves to spit sarcasm. A goddamn must-read.

Pro Tip: Read this one during spring break while chilling on a swan pool floatie.

Release Date: April 2, 2019 (Available now)

The Ash Family

I’m from North Carolina and was predisposed to love a cult novel set in my home state, but this novel completely surpassed my expectations. I couldn’t put it down, and I was tearing through the pages to find out how the story would end. The descriptions were vivid and rich—making me nostalgic for my family’s annual camping trips in the Asheville area when I was a kid. (Is it weird that I felt nostalgic at times while reading a cult novel?) The Ash Family is utterly compelling and propulsive. The stakes feel so high, real matters of life and death. Not only is the storytelling strong, but the characters are masterfully complex and enigmatic. I was so desperate to understand them—in the way that Harmony was so desperate to understand Bay and Dice and Queen. Reading this book is an incredible adrenaline rush.

The Ash Family reminded me of other cult favorites too, like The Girls and The SecretHistory, but also badass books like The Flamethrowers, Eileen, A Visit from the Goon Squad, and Girls on Fire. They all have the same cool-girl vibe and electric energy.

Release Date: April 9, 2019

The Red Scrolls of Magic

I can’t wait to start this new series from Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu. Magnus and Alec (my faves!) go to Europe for a romantic vacation after the Mortal War, and instead end up fighting more evil. As soon as the pair get to Paris, they find out that a cult Magnus started years ago as a joke is now causing all sorts of trouble. I’m already imagining all the shenanigans “Malec” get up to fighting demons, and April can’t come soon enough for me to read this new book!

Release Date: April 9, 2019

The Last

If you are a fan of dystopian fiction and psychological thrillers, add this book to your TBR! I got an early copy of this novel, and from the first page I had a “WTF, this is a little too real” moment….

Imagine you’re sitting at home having breakfast and all of a sudden you get one of the emergency alerts on your phone. This time the alert doesn’t notify you of a flash flood or hurricane, instead the words nuclear explosion flash across your screen. There is no time to run to a bunker and seek shelter; you are stuck.

Jon is at a conference at a Swiss hotel when someone at the table next to him gets the alert. The hotel guests all check their phones and quickly learn that around the world there are nuclear bombs being dropped. That’s all they find out before all the news outlets and media channels go dark and the clouds on the horizon are tainted in an ominous shade of orange.

Flash-forward two months...still no updates on what’s happening outside the hotel. Anybody who left after receiving the news alerts hasn’t returned. But when a body is found in the hotel, their safe haven no longer seems so safe. How long has the body been there? Is the killer still at the hotel or did they flee during the chaos of the nuclear bombs?

This book will have you flipping through the pages searching for the answers!

Release Date: April 9, 2019

The Key to Happily Ever After

The Key to Happily Ever After is the perfect antidote to all the dark and twisty thrillers you’ve been devouring all winter and will help you shake off the darkness and step into the light just as you start to plan your summer vacay.

The de la Rosa family has been helping couples plan for their HEAs through their wedding planning business. When their parents decide to retire, the sisters—Marisol, Janelyn, and Pearl—think they are prepared to take over. But as the sisters take on more of the responsibilities, they realize that wedding planning can be a bitch. Whether they have to deal with a crazy bridezilla or a snowmageddon in the middle of a spring wedding they will power through it together and attempt to find their own happily-ever-afters along the way.

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